Painter Growth Podcast by Mike Gore-Hickman

August 19, 202613 min

The $5K/Hour Sales Strategy Painting Contractors Ignore | Autopilot Ep.1

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/ If you're new here, I'm Mike, founder of Painter Growth. We coach painting contractors on how to build a real business, not just run jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 contractors, from $300K solo guys to $5M teams, and our coaches are all painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Quick version of how I got here. In my early 20s I was running my own painting business and it was a mess. Underbid jobs, painters showing up stoned, spilled paint on driveways, wrong colors on a house, I even fell off a ladder. Ended the year with a $20K tax bill I couldn't pay. Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems and sales instead, hired a coach, and hit $200K a month before I turned 24. Then I moved cities for my now-wife, shut the painting business down, and spent five years helping grow a SaaS company to almost $10M a year. That's where I learned the online business side of things. During COVID those two worlds smashed together and Painter Growth was born. Launched in Oct 2021 with $10 a day in Facebook ads and no clients. Signed 10 clients by the end of that year, 8 of them got huge results, and that was all the proof I needed. Since then we've brought on my partner Jesse, built a team of almost 50, became an official Sherwin-Williams coaching partner, and got named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't have to be a great painter to build a great painting business. You have to be a great business owner who hires great painters. That's the switch we help people make. Right now I'm heads down on AI, building tools inside Painter Growth like a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. Contractors who get ahead of this are going to win big. Still figuring it out, still building, right alongside 1,500 contractors doing the same thing. Never quit,Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

August 15, 202649 min

Why Every Successful Entrepreneur Needs to Face Their Shadow

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-... In this episode of the Painter Growth Podcast, Jesse sits down with Mark Anthony Lord, a spiritual coach, ordained minister, and the man Jesse credits with one of the most profound turning points in his life and business. Together, Jesse and Mark unpack how spirituality isn't separate from entrepreneurship, it's the mirror that shows you exactly where you need to grow. Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:39 Jesse's story: hitting rock bottom and praying for a better way06:07 Who is Mark Anthony Lord?10:02 Entrepreneurship as a mirror for self-awareness18:19 What to do when your business isn't flowing24:55 A guided prayer for anyone feeling stuck32:27 Leveling up leadership: The Big Leap and the "upper limit"44:53 The mindset shift: "I am enough"47:00 – Permission to take a break (before life forces you to) Connect with Mark Anthony Lord:Website: markanthonylord.meEmail: lordmarkanthony@gmail.com (mention Painter Growth for a discount)https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/6653f0ed-3883-44f8-b4ab-776a9e03d1db Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-... Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

August 11, 202639 min

The #1 Handoff Mistake Costing Painting Contractors Jobs

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

August 7, 202629 min

Swimming in Murky Water: A Painter's 90-Day Financial Turnaround

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

August 4, 202639 min

Rebuilding a Painting Business After Losing Your Team — Patrick (Rocket Painter)

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

July 29, 202627 min

From $50K in Debt to Full Financial Control: A Painting Business Turnaround | Painter Growth Stories

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

July 21, 202630 min

Painting Contractor: Breaking Even to 20% in the Bank in 90 Days

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

July 14, 202618 min

5 High-Performance Habits for Painting Biz

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

July 9, 202628 min

Q2 Review + Q3 Planning for Painting Contractors | The 7 Numbers That Decide Your Next Quarter

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contractors. Our clients range from guys doing $300K a year to teams pushing past $5M. Our coaches are real painting business owners who built seven-figure companies themselves. Not theory guys. Here's how I got here. Early 20s: Running my own painting business. Couldn't close jobs. Underbidding everything. Painters showed up stoned. Spilled paint on driveways. Painted houses the wrong color. I fell off a ladder. Ended my first year with a $20,000 tax bill I couldn't pay. Still early 20s: Almost quit. Didn't. Got obsessed with systems, sales, and getting help. I hired my first business coach, fixed the chaos & hit over $200K a month in sales before I turned 24. Mid-20s: Followed my girlfriend (now wife) to a new city. Shut the painting business down. Took a job in SaaS. Spent five years helping grow a software company from scratch to nearly $10M a year. That's where I learned how to build and scale an online business. During COVID: My two worlds collided. Running a painting business plus scaling software companies. I launched a side hustle that pulled both together. It became Painter Growth. October 2021: Launched with an MVP and $10 a day in Facebook ads. No money. No clients. No connections. End of 2021: Signed my first 10 clients. Eight got massive results. That was all the proof I needed. Late 2022: Brought on Jesse, my partner and CFO. Hired our first coach and first VA. Reinvested everything back into the business. 2023 and beyond: Built a team of nearly 50, including seven-figure painting business owners coaching full time. We became an official Sherwin-Williams partner and we’re the exclusive coaching program referred by them. We we’re named PCA 2026 Partner of the Year. You don't need to be a good painter to build a great painting business. You need to be a good business owner who hires good painters. Most contractors never make that switch. We help them make it. What I'm focused on right now: AI and systems. We're building AI-powered tools inside Painter Growth, including a bookkeeping assistant and a proposal generator. The contractors who figure this out early are going to pull ahead. I'm still building. Still figuring things out. But I'm doing it alongside 1,500 contractors who are all in the middle of their own fight to build something real. If you're in that fight, you're in the right place. Never quit, Mike Get a FREE Painting Business Growth Session. In 30 minutes, we'll build you a custom plan to grow → https://learn.paintergrowth.com/book-your-call-1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=booking Painter Growth content is for educational purposes only. Results vary. Individual outcomes depend on the effort, situation, and decisions of each business owner.

June 30, 202623 min

From $30K Months To $100K Months In Under A Year Painter Growth Story

Eric Winegardner started Winegardner Fine Finishes and Coatings in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 2023. People told him no one in his area would pay premium prices for high-end finishes. By 2024 he was at just under $700K in revenue. By mid-2025 he was consistently doing $100K+ months — with a project manager, a leadership team, and the freedom to shut his phone off for a week in Florida while the business kept running. In this episode of Painter Growth Stories, Eric walks through: - Why he was skeptical of business coaching for years before joining - The "rip the band-aid off" moment that got him out of project management - How he raised prices 10% across the board (and nothing changed) - The PFF goals system he uses with his painters — and why he told one of them, "you're never going to make $100,000 painting for me, but I want to give you $100,000" - His full succession plan: training a sales/estimator, moving his PM into a Director of Ops role, and stepping out of estimating - Custom home builder work vs. residential — and how he stays profitable on both - Why other 20-year contractors are now coming to him for advice after only 3 years in business Eric will be at the Painter Growth Mastermind in October — bringing his leadership team this time. — Comment PLAYBOOK below and we'll send you the exact systems Eric used to grow Winegardner Fine Finishes. Painter Growth helps painting contractors build profitable, self-running businesses. Learn more at paintergrowth.com.